Hey My Gee,

How have you been since my last mail?. Did you follow the conversations surrounding the last Ojude Oba festival. It was spectacular as usual but i feel there is too much effort from all notable houses trying to slay and up their steeze this time around, unlike previous years which seems unique.

Well, it is what it is 😂 

In my last newsletter, i promised to stay consistent and that i intend to keep. This week newsletter is a bit on a more serious note and a guide to self-reflection.

I got the idea from reading the famous Peter Thiel’s Book - Zero to One. It opened my mind to a lot of things actually - one of which i plan to share with you in today’s newsletter.

I think it is quite a lengthy one, so i won’t beat around the bush and go straight to the point. I would also love if you can read it all.

Ok, Lets Go 😉 

The 4 Future Beliefs: Which One Are You Living By?

How often do you think about the future? Do you even think about it at all?

Can we shape our future — or are we just passengers on a random ride we can’t control?

These are the questions that have been circling in my mind lately. The more I reflect, the more I realize that every individual — knowingly or not — tends to follow one of four core beliefs about the future. These beliefs quietly shape how we make decisions, set goals, and respond to uncertainty.

They are:

• Indefinite Optimism

• Definite Optimism

• Indefinite Pessimism

• Definite Pessimism

I first came across these terms while reading Zero to One by Peter Thiel, a book that explores how startups create the future. The concepts stuck with me because they explain so much about how people — and even entire societies — act or fail to act.

But before we dive into what each belief means, let’s get clear on the basics.

According to Wikipedia:

Optimism is the attitude or mindset of expecting events to lead to particularly positive, favorable, desirable, and hopeful outcomes.

Pessimism is a mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation.

The average person views the future in one of two ways: it will either be better or worse than the present.

An optimist welcomes the future with hope, believing in progress and positive change. A pessimist, on the other hand, fears it — expecting decline, difficulty, or disappointment.

It's within this mindset — balancing between hope and fear — that the four core beliefs about the future were born.

Let’s properly dive into it.

Indefinite Pessimism

This is arguably the most disheartening of the four beliefs. An indefinite pessimist sees the future as bleak — hopeless, even — but has no clear idea how that bleakness will unfold. Even worse, they make no concrete plans to prepare for it or improve their situation.

They believe things will go wrong, but they can’t say exactly how or when. And because of that uncertainty, they fall into a passive, drifting mindset. No clear goals. No strategies. Just the quiet expectation that life will get worse, and that nothing they do will really change that.

In practice, this belief leads to resignation — going through the motions without direction, letting life happen rather than shaping it. A good example of an indefinite pessimist is a cynical employee who believes the company will eventually collapse — but can’t explain how or when it might happen.

They expect failure, but they can't point to any specific signs or reasons. Despite this gloomy outlook, they make no backup plans, take no precautions, and offer no solutions for when things fall apart. They simply wait for the worst, unprepared.

Definite Pessimism

This is a more practical version of pessimism. A definite pessimist looks into the future and is certain things will go wrong. Unlike the indefinite pessimist, they don’t just feel it — they can often predict how and when it might happen.

Because of this, they make serious preparations: avoiding risks, conserving resources, and working hard to stay ahead of the trouble they believe is coming.

The downside? They rarely aim to make things better. Instead of building solutions or trying to change the course of events, they focus only on surviving the fall.

People with this mindset often save aggressively, plan cautiously, and work tirelessly — all while embracing the belief that tough times are not just possible, but inevitable. A proper example is that of an economic analyst with this prediction "With rising inflation, stagnant wages, and increasing national debt, we’re heading toward a recession within the next 12 months. If interest rates don’t stabilize, consumer spending will drop drastically." In this case, the analyst expects a bad outcome — a recession — but supports the claim with specific economic indicators and a timeline. The belief isn’t vague or emotional; it’s rooted in data and logic. With such predictions, preparations or plans can be made on how to survive the tough times ahead. Individuals, businesses, or even governments can start preparing to survive (or at least soften) the impact of what’s coming.

Definite Optimism

To a definite optimist, the future will be better than the present if he plans and works to make it better. This is a positive belief that the future will be better, and there is a clear and precise plan to make it so. It is a combination of hope and positivity. This particular belief is the mindset of visionaries, inventors, and builders. It is a belief that gets things done because it is deeply rooted in action and innovation.

According to Peter Thiel in his book Zero to One, definite optimists led the Western world through the 1950s and '60s. The scientists, doctors, engineers, and businessmen made the world richer, healthier, and more long-lived. The technological advancements, improved health services and breakthroughs, educational enlightenment, and so on are the efforts of definite optimists. For new things to be built, for entrepreneurs to create business models, for doctors to perform successful surgical operations — they have to be definite optimists. Let’s take an African startup investor as an example.

The investor knows that with mobile banking and internet access expanding across Africa, there is going to be a boom in small businesses and local innovation over the next decade. For him to arrive at this conclusion, he has predicted progress based on data trends, investment, and specific technological shifts. Most importantly, he is willing to act.

Indefinite Optimism

An indefinite optimist knows the future will be better, but he doesn't know how exactly — so he won’t make any specific plans toward it. This belief supports going with the flow rather than making something out of it. People with this mindset embrace globalization and not innovation.

They continue trends that already exist instead of creating new and better ones. Most youth nowadays fall within this category. They are generally positive about the future, but they don't take charge. They believe somehow things will work out well or improve, but they don't have a roadmap or plan of action.

This leads to passive behavior like putting money into index funds, going to higher institutions without a clear goal, or just following trends. This mindset or belief only creates a society that consumes but doesn't build.

A practical example is a young person who believes "everything will work out" but doesn't have a career plan or build useful skills — they just expect life to sort itself out.

In all four beliefs, only three seem viable and sustainable. Indefinite pessimism works because it is self-fulfilling: if you are a slacker with low expectations, they will probably be met. Definite pessimism also works well by putting plans in motion to survive coming tough times without expecting anything new.

Definite optimism is said to be the best of all four beliefs by Peter Thiel. If you want to go from Zero to One — that is, make something truly new — you need to believe in the future and take deliberate steps to build it. It is how innovations and advancements are made.

The only belief not viable and sustainable is indefinite optimism: how can the future get better if no one plans for it? A society built on indefinite optimism risks coasting until things break, because no one is building systems strong enough to sustain the future they're hoping for.

So, which belief do you hold? Whether consciously or not, we all fall into one of these four categories — and our future will often reflect the mindset we carry. It's not enough to hope. It's not enough to plan for disaster.

Progress happens when we believe the future can be better and we’re bold enough to build it. The world doesn’t change itself — people do. And only the definite optimist has the courage to shape what comes next.

That’s it for this week.

Did you enjoy this newsletter?. Spread the love, send it to someone you feel will enjoy it also.

Keep showing up 🏃‍♂️💛

P.S.

New here?